Friday, May 30, 2014

Bahauddin Khan Qawwal (1934-2006), whose party render the qawwali below, traced his lineage back to the days of Amir Khusrau. To remind centuries-yet-to-be that he had loved his murshid, Khusrau banded together twelve youngsters, personally trained them, funded them, and performed with them. He appointed Mian Saamat as the leader of the Bachche (Youngsters) Qawwal. Bahauddin's family claims descent from the Bachche.

The first couplet is by Saʿdī. Abū-Muhammad Muslih al-Dīn bin Abdallāh Shīrāzī, aka Saʿdī Shirazi (Persian: ابومحمد مصلح الدین بن عبدالله شیرازی‎; 1210-1292) was the major classical Persian poet of the middle ages, recognized for the quality of his composition and for the depth of his thought.

Grant me a warm new life or grant me a hot death
I bow my head at Thy service and make Thee my king.

The second couplet is by ‘Araqi. Fakhr al-dīn Ibrahīm ‘Irāqī, or ‘Araqi (Persian: فخرالدین ابراهیم عراقی‎; 1213-1289), was a Persian Sufi master (a friend of Jalaluddin Rumi), poet and writer. Born in Hamedan, (i.e. 'Irani Iraq'), ‘Araqi spent many years in Multan in the Indian subcontinent, as well as in Konya in present day Turkey.

Why should our enemies be so fortunate to die by Thine hands?
The heads of comrades are standing alive, ready for dagger-wielder Thou.

The rest is by Amir Khusrau (1253-1305):

گفتم که روشن از قمر گفتا که رخسار منست

گفتم که شیرین از شکر گفتا که گفتار منست

Guftam ke roshan az qamar gufta ke rukhsar-e-man ast

Guftam ke shireen az shakar gufta ke guftar-e-man ast

I asked: 'What is brighter than the moon?' She said: 'It is my face.'

I asked: 'What is sweeter than sugar?' She said: 'It is my talk.'

گفتم کہ مرگِ ناگہاں، گفتا که درد هجر من

گفتم علاج زندگی ،گفتا که دیدار منست

Guftam ke marg-e-'ashiqan gufta ke dard-e-hijr-e-man

Guftam 'ilaaj-e-zindagi gufta ke deedar-e-man ast

I asked about the death of lovers; She said; 'The pain of being separated from me.'

I asked about the cure of life; She said: 'It is the sight of my face.'

گفتم طریق عاشقان گفتا وفاداری بود

گفتم مکن جور و جفا، گفتا کہ این کار منست

Guftam tareeq-e-'ashiqan gufta wafadari buwad

Guftam makun jaur o jafa gufta ke iin kar-e-man ast

I asked about the way of lovers; She said: 'Fidelity.'

I said: 'Then do not be cruel and wicked.' She said: 'That is my task.'

گفتم که حوری یا پری ، گفتا که من شاه ِ بتاں

گفتم که خسرو ناتوان گفتا پرستار منست

Guftam ke houri ya pari gufta ke man shah-e-butan

Guftam ke Khusrau na-tavaan gufta parastar-e-man ast

I said: 'Are you a houri or a fairy?' She said: 'Of idols I am King.'

I said: 'Khusrau is helpless.' She said: 'Worship me.'

In his Lectures on Aesthetics, Hegel wrote:

Pantheistic poetry has had, it must be said, a higher and freer development in the Islamic world, especially among the Persians ... The full flowering of Persian poetry comes at the height of its complete transformation in speech and national character, through Mohammedanism ... In later times, poetry of this order [Ferdowsi's epic poetry] had a sequel in love epics of extraordinary tenderness and sweetness; but there followed also a turn toward the didactic, where, with a rich experience of life, the far-traveled Saadi was master before it submerged itself in the depths of the pantheistic mysticism taught and recommended in the extraordinary tales and legendary narrations of the great Jalal-ed-Din Rumi.

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Ab'ul Hasan Yamīn ud-Dīn Khusrau (Hindi: अमीर खुसरो; 1253–1325), better known as Amīr Khusrau Dehlvi, was a Sufi musician, poet and scholar. Khursau the mystic, disciple of Nizamuddin Auliya of Delhi, inventor of the musical instruments sitar and tabla, sponsor of the first qawwali, originator of the khayal and tarana styles of Indian classical music - is an iconic figure in the cultural history of India.

God Himself was Master-of-Ceremonies in that Heavenly court, Khusrau -
Where Muhammad too was shining like a candle, last night where I was.

There is an eerie story behind the song.

Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia directed Khusrau to switch his attendance to a gathering presided over by a "rival" master - Hazrat Shah Qalandar.

Khusrau was puzzled but did as he was asked. The master ignored him. One day, Hazrat Qalandar asked Khusrau - How is it that I have never seen your old Master Nizamuddin at the Lord's gathering in Heaven? Khusrau had no reason to doubt this assertion, so he was crestfallen and sad.

Meeting Khusrau some time later, Nizamuddin perceived something was amiss, and, upon questioning, learnt what had happened. He laughed - Tell Qalandar that he himself should take you one day to the Lord's gathering in Heaven, and that you will yourself seek out your old Master there.

And so the next time Qalandar poked fun at Khusrau, he asked to be taken to the Lord's gathering. Qalandar held his palm on Khusrau's heart and lo, he was transported to the ground floor of an eerily lit palace where shining figure after shining figure was in attendance. But there was no Nizamuddin Aulia there.

Not seeing Nizamuddin, Khusrau asked the Master of Ceremonies if his old Master would be coming. The figure pointed upwards to the next floor, where the scene repeated itself - shining saints and prophets, but no Nizamuddin. So Khusrau was led in turns to levels 2, 3, etc till 7 - and in this highest of floors levels he saw a mysterious veiled lady at whose feet the lovers writhed in the agony of Love. Khusrau approached the strange figure in a trance. He removed the veil of this person - only to come face-to-face with his old Master Nizamuddin. Khusrau shrieked to fall at the feet of this figure, and as he fell Qalandar withdrew his hand from Khusrau's heart, the brilliant lights vanished, and he was back in Old Delhi. On his way back home through the alleys lit by earthen lamps, Amir Khusrau composed "Nami Danam Che."

Khusrau was born in Etah, Uttar Pradesh, India. His father Saif-ud-Dīn Mahmūd was a Turkic officer and a member of the Kara-Khitai Lachin tribe of Transoxiana. At the invasion of Genghis Khan, Saif-ud-Din migrated from his hometown Kesh, near Samarkand, to Balkh, and thence to the court of the Delhi Sultanate of Iltutmish. Khusrau's mother was of a recently-converted-to-Islam Rajput tribe. The metaphor of this 'mixed' parentage - Trans-Oxian and Cis-Indus - is also found in Khusrau's synthesis of Persian imagery and Hindvi music.

Nizām-al-Din ʿAlī-Shīr Herawī Nava'i (Chagatai: نظام الدین على شير هروی‎; 1441-1501) was an Uzbek politician, mystic, linguist, painter, and poet. He was the greatest representative of literature in the now extinct Chagatai branch of Turkic. Born in Herat (present day Afghanistan), part of the Timurid ruling class administering Khorasan (Northeast Persia and Central Asia), Nava'i was the quintessential Persianized Turk, whose literary work was a prototype for Babur. Nava'i revolutionized the literary use of street-Turkic, and through his work the vernacular Chagatai of the mohalla became well-respected as a literary language. Nava'i also wrote in Persian (under the pen name Fāni), and to a lesser degree in Arabic.

In spite of his songs on love, Ali-Shir Nava'i (the pen-name is also rendered Navoiy) led an ascetic lifestyle, "never marrying or having concubines or children." More on the Chaucer Of The Turks here.

Na`at (Arabic: نعت‎) is poetry that specifically praises the prophet Muhammad. The practice is popular in India, commonly in Urdu. People who recite Naat are known as Naat Khua'an. In addition to Jami's verse, traditional verses from Arab, Indian and Quranic tradition are woven in:

सरे-ला-मकां से तलब हुई, सू-ए-मुनतहा वह चले नबी

कोई हद है उनके उरूज की, बलघल उला बी कमालिही

From that place of no houses come the Summons, On that path of excellence there goes the Exalted

Can there be a limit to his ascent? He who reached the highest place by his Perfection

मेरा दीन अम्बर वारसी, बखुदा के इश्क़-ए-मुहम्मदी

मेरा ज़िक्र-ओ-फ़िक्र है बस यहीँ, सल्लू अलैहे व आलिही

My religion is Ambar Warsi, I am Mohammedan by reason of Love of God

My practice and concern is only this. Send blessings to him and his family.

O manifestation of the Light of God! He who reached the highest place by his perfection.

Maula Ali! slayer of problems! He removed darkness by his beauty.

हसनैन जाने फ़ातिमा हसुनत जमीओ ख़िसालिही

यानि मुहम्मद मुस्तफ़ा … सल्लू अलैहे व आलिही |

Of the two goods, life of Fatima! Beautiful are all his attainments

Therefore Muhammad is the chosen one. Send blessings to him and his family.

(Fatima, daughter of Muhammad, was the wife of 'Ali, and mother of Hassan and Hussain. Hassan means good, Hasnain is plural of Hassan - the two Hassans or the two goods.)

Here is another version by Badar Miandad Qawwal & Party:

Finally, the traditional Sare La Makaan See Talab Hui can be heard below:

Jami was also an outstanding theologian of the school of ibn-Arabi, as well as a prominent historian and Khwājagānī Sũfī, who analyzed the metaphysics of Mercy. He was recognized for his repartee and the crispness of his verse.

Were letters-of-unyearning to come from this Niyaz (Yearner)
Twould only be, 'cause proud is this clay-toy's Love for Thee.

Niyaz lived roughly at the time Muslim rule was being replaced by the British - say the Sirajuddaula-to-Bentinck span of Indian history. Note the repudiation of 'mine-is-the-only-Truth' ulema who, then as now, came bearing the promise of virgins-of-paradise as well as the threat of monotheistic original-sin:

Bedam - literally, Breathless - forbade his followers to keep biographical detail on himself; what is remembered is that he was consulted by most of the great poets of the turn of the century - Pir Mehr Ali Shah, Khwaja Ghulam Fareed, Hazrat Hasan Nizami - this last Sufi said about Bedam Shah's work - Hast Irfan dar Zabaan-e-Purbi, i.e. Here is Irfan in the Purbi tongue. In Islam, ‘Irfān (literally ‘knowing, awareness’) is gnosis. Bedam Shah passed away in 1936. Note the slyness of the maqta - the last couplet - above. The word Fna in Arabic means end, erasure, passing-away; the Sufi reads it as the end of the duality with his God, who is also immanent in the dust and ash, beyond breath.

Bedam Shah's Purbi qalam is a mix of Rekhta/Urdu idiom and the village tradition that provided sibstrate to Indian Sufi poetry. The syncretic nature of the qalam led Bedam Shah Warsi to be given the title of 'Khusrau-e-Saani' - the Second Khusrau. His Naatiya work, such as the one above, departs from the Persianate classical Naat of Jami, and brings to the genre a certain simple directness - as he himself says - a 'bheeni bheeni khushboo', a redolent fragrance - of the Ganga-Jumna-Gomti.